Devilish Sunday @ the Barn

I cannot be upset with this game. Okay, it was a little on the boring side, but hey... that's Devils' hockey at it's finest.

There were a lot of red jerseys in the over 15,000 patrons that showed up this afternoon, but there were also a few Gillies 14 shirts along with this sign on the wall.

The Devils out shot the Islanders 29 - 22. Obviously a very low shot percentage game. There were large stretches of time where no shots were recorded (see opening statement).

Brian Rolston finally put the Devils on the board four minutes into the 2nd on a power play goal It took until almost the end of the second for Josh Bailey to tie it up at one.

Less than 3 minutes into the third, Ilya Kovalchuk (of course) put the Devils up by one and then it became a game of trying to not get even further behind. Blake Comeau tied the game at 2 at 16:18, much to Marty Brodeur's dismay.


Frans Nielsen scored on Marty Brodeur in the shoot-out with his patented "gimmick" as Howie liked to call it. Kovalchuk scored on Montoya. It wasn't until Brian Rolson had waited for seven shooters to fail before beating Al Montoya to give the Devils their two points.

While it was a hard fought game with Comeau and Okopso throwing some big hits along with Jack Hillen taking another chance on offering up a hip-check (and getting away with it this time! Nice!), there were no fighing penalties. Although I'm pretty sure if Michael Haley had his way, there would have been. John Tavares was knocked down more times than he'd like to think about and Matt Moulson was roughed up around Marty's net. He didn't seem to be very happy about it.

Al Montoya did an amazing job keeping the Isles in the game though out. Even if the shot total was low, the shots the Devils take are quality. To a man, everyone speaks highly of Al Montoya.

"We're a young group of guys and we showed a lot of patience tonight." PA Parenteau told Stan Fishler. He called Montoya "Monty" twice and was happy with his first shoot out performance in net.

"This is the direction we're going and we want to keep going this way. It's about leaving our best effort on the ice." Montoya told the media. He also told them he wasn't nervous for is first shoot out. This guy is cool, like the flip side of a pillow.

It would have been nice to get him the two points. It will also be nice to get him a contract for next season. Um, yeah.


Thanks to Nick6489, whom I had the pleasure of meeting tonight at the pre-game meetup. He was with Bob, whose cowbell you hear during almost every home game. I had no idea they have their own radio show, but they do. So here is my impromptu interview with Nick & Bob for HKCRadio.com.

Isles 5 Blues 2 A Saturday Day Game Final

Too much going on at the house and I couldn't get there today.

But here is the post for today's entertaining Isles win along with some questions that will be expored later.

This Time, Trevor Gets Ten

On Wednesday night, his first night back on the ice, he was flying so fast during warm-ups that my 15-year-old Olympus couldn't catch him. Warm ups is the only time Trevor Gillies can really skate on the ice he loves.

His ice time on Wednesday didn't last more than a blink. And after sitting for a nine-game suspension, Gillies will now sit out for ten. If he does come back to the Islander bench, it can't be before March 26th when the Flyers and their buses come to town.

In a strange twist of fate, the NY Islanders team photo for 2010-2011 was taken today at the Coliseum. Trevor was in Toronto. He will not be in the photo that will represent this year's Islanders for years to come.

But that is what a lot of people seem to want.

DiBo: "Just part of the game."

I really agonized over writing a post about Wednesday's game against the Wild and the much talked about Trevor Gillies hit. Part of me didn't want to get involved in the firestorm once again and part didn't know how to express my own tortured feelings about it.

Of course, I don't want to see any player get seriously hurt, no matter what jersey he wears. And in the instances on Wednesday, there were TWO players who could have been seriously hurt, but no one is really speaking about the first one.

I spent some time talking to people involved in the game as well as other fans, this is what I came up with.

Trevor Gillies will have a hearing today to see what fate the league hands down to him. I wish him luck. He's a good man, a good father and a good team mate. He's just not the best opponent.

While so many say there is no place for guys like him in the league, I have to disagree. While Trevor Gillies may be as far from a highly skilled hockey player as I am from being a pulitzer prize winning journalist, that doesn't mean we both don't do our jobs with passion and devotion. It's all just part of the game.

Al in for a Wild time

Isles win 4 - 1 and the locker room is happy again.




Sal DiBenedetto was here ready to cheer on his relative, Justin. Love the sign kid!

The first few minutes were all Minnesota. There have been two broken sticks in the first three minutes. Let's see how many they go through.



Blake Comeau scores the first goal for the Islanders to get them on the board during a power play and with only 1:23 of the 1st left, Kyle Okposo makes a beautiful move and shoots between his legs as he is being taken down in front of the net and manages to get it past Backstrom. 2- 0 Isles as they head to the locker room.

As the second period barely began, Blake Comeau netted his second of the game and the Isles third off a Matt Martin rebound. The Wild immediately pulled Backtrom for Theodore.

Things were going splendidly and I was just about to write how they must have been giving out Trevor Gillies mustaches to the kids because they were on the Jumbotron and the kids were jumping up and down. So cute.

But as expected, Cal Clutterbuck took a run at Justin DeBenedetto and tossed him against the boards. Gillies took offense and did the same. Clutterbuck went down hard and Gillies, just back from his nine game suspension, was tossed from the game. He was given a 5 minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct. Clutterbuck was only given a 2 minute call for boarding.

Zenon Konopka must have had a few words with the refs in defense of his team mate because he ended up in the box for a ten minute miscnduct. Great.

The Islanders managed to kill off all the penalties and continue to put shots on goal. But Gillies may end up back in the NHL offices. Very sad. He was so happy to be back on the ice.


With Clayton Stoner called for holding the stick penalty at 15:41 of the second, Andy MacDonald blasts one past Theodore that Josh Bailey has to sidestep so as to not get hit with it. That put the Isles up 4 - 0.

Well, it seems the Wild were getting a little angry at their lack of scoring ability on the Big Cubano. Cal Clutterbuck seems to have a problem with Justin DeBenedetto and knocked him down again in front of the Islander bench. Konopka didn't like that and hit Clutterbuck. Staubitz decided to take Clutterbuck's place in the dance and dropped the gloves with Zenon.

As usually, Big Z's fights seem to last forever as he had his helmet off and was getting belted in the back of the head. Both players got five for fighting and Clutterbuck also recived ten minutes for inciting.

The third begins and I lost internet for awhile. Shots on goal with 11:43 left are 38 Isles and 25 Wild. Al Montoya is making some excellent saves tonight.

Isles & a Wild "Homecoming"

While last night's loss was heartbreaking for Nate Lawson and the Islanders, there is no time to sit around and sulk. They've got a desperate team heading into their house and they need points more than the Isles do. They'll probably do anything to get them too.

While the Wild have their fair share of injuries, the Islanders lead the league in man games lost. That fact has put youngsters in the line-up without much NHL experience. That lack of experience is killer when facing teams like Washington as they did last night.

While I read that the key mistakes last night that lead to the (literally) last minute breakdown belonged to Michael Grabner in the final minute and Travis Hamonic in OT, I'd like to say one thing: Butch Goring made a point of saying that in the final minute of the game, Jack was going with four forwards and found that "aggressive." So, that goal at 47 seconds left I put on Jack's head. The overtime goal by Ovechkin was just the great 8 being the super player he is. (Not your fault Travis.)

Okay, Welcome Home Eric Nystrom who comes to town with the Wild who haven't seen the Islanders since they played them twice in 2009. The last time Eric was in the building was with Calgary. Now he is wearing a different sweater, but the memories are still the same.

Look for Al Montoya to be in net tonight (I would think!), but not sure if Radek Martinek who was listed as day-to-day is well enough to be in the line-up. Michael Haley is also expected out of the line-up as he was hit with a puck last night in the knee and is being evaluated today after not being able to continue playing in Washington.

Thanks to @IslesChick Lisa for posting that great photo on Twitter.

Also, here's a new Islanders related YouTube show by two of my best blogger buddies, JohnnyZ from Islanders Top Shelf and Brad Kurtzberg from Insidehockey.com. Give it a try.
If you're heading to the Coliseum tonight, make sure you stop at the Social Media desk at Doolin's and sign in and say Hi. Later!